Monday 27 April 2009

We need CHANGE

***A letter addressed to all professionals at Blogger who are endlessly persevering to make it a better place for us***


Dear Experts,

Subject: Blogspot’s future at stake

I have documented a few issues here which I’m sure will be of great interest to you. I didn’t want to bother you initially as I’m more than aware you are all very busy people who work really hard to make blogger the best on the web, but few matters made me pause & as a loyal subscriber wanted to make you aware of it.

Allow me to proceed directly to matters burning at the tip of my fingers.

I do wonder if you’ve noticed that, in recent months quite a few of your loyal followers have ditched the wagon[pardon the slang, here & everywhere else] & joined hands with a competitor who has lured them away with promises & previews of better themes & options. If you haven’t then please click here and here and here and here………………

Seriously, how much time or effort does it take you to make blogger a more user friendly workspace for your subscribers????
For instance, have you noticed that your themes are hardly anything to write home about???? You have more than a million users & you offer them a total choice of 16 templates with some piddly options to change colors????

Yes I know I can pick up themes from freelancers who specialize in these things. But a layman like me finds them useless. I can’t even proceed with a new template for fear of losing all my data which let me tell you nearly happened once incase you are viewing my complaints with jaundiced eyes.

Definitely you would have noticed that other blogspaces have offered a facility wherein the author of the post can directly reply to a comment within the individual’s comment space itself. I’m sure you’ve seen for yourself that this option is an instant hit in the blog world!!!!!!
Come on tell me now, how difficult is it to incorporate the same into your system???

Instead of wasting time trying to make the Username space turn yellow when we login, you could try to introduce some useful stuff like, emoticons for example.
A simple smiley makes a whole lot of difference to a post. If you have any doubts, ask Indyeah she’ll elucidate this point across to you with appropriate examples & emoticons in atleast 2 pages.
I mean, we are not asking for the moon, are we?????

Bloggers like me with basic or no knowledge of HTML have a difficult time expressing our feelings……..have you realized how a simple strikethrough like this automatically lifts a post to a whole new level & makes it so much fun to read. I’ve been blogging now for more than 1½ yrs & found out just 3 days back how to do this thru HTML courtesy a fellow blogger Rakesh. And today Snow shows me how put a link in the comments section. Before this week I didn’t even know all this could be done in blogger.
We do know Blogger is full of possibilities but please make it a lot more user-friendly for us!!!!!

I’ve always been a creature of habit & a lazy one at that. You know, I simply detest making drastic changes in my life & will go to any lengths to avoid it. Believe me, I don’t even want to be thinking about the hassles of moving out of Blogger.

No, no its not some intimidation technique…….but do try understand that if you guys don’t get on with making functional & effective changes, you are the ultimate losers.

I have mentioned just a few of my grievances here. If you will please open your eyes wide & read between the lines you’ll find a million other bloggers with similar & more complaints.

I hope you take my post as constructive criticism & go back to the drawing board to make the necessary modifications.

In anticipation,
Yours truly,


Nancy

44 comments:

  1. LOL.......

    I sure hope blogger improves... :)

    it makes things better in blog world!!!!

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  2. LOL :) I am sure that, this letter will make those professionals at blogger sit up and notice :) That was a nice one :)

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  3. Ordinary Guy:
    Please note people at blogger, OG smiles as if there is no hope. Please prove him wrong.

    Smitha:
    Again Blogger experts, one more who is smiling away & laughing at our efforts.
    We've simply got to wipe the smiles off their faces;-/

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  4. I AM already thinking of moving to wordpress. Have set up a new blog and all but still something wants to me write at my old blog :)..
    But yes, blogger needs a much wanted face lift and a pretty one at that ..

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  5. Absolutely agree with all that you've pointed out here.I hope the blogger professionals take note of all this and do the needful soon,thereby not risk losing out on such a worthy blogger such as you:)

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  6. Google will hear it don't worry... it will work to give us the best of Blogger.

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  7. Okay now stick that tongue out, lick the envelope and possssssssssht.

    Blogger...Post..Post...

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  8. I agree with you totally!
    The amount of frustration I face putting up the multiple pics per post in my foodblog drives me insane!!
    And yes, I still dont know how to STRIKE THROUGH or add html in my comment!!! :(((

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  9. Attagirl Nancy!!! Clap!! Clap!!! Hope someone listens to you! :)

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  10. Nancy, did you, did you absolutely mail this to the buggers who are supposedly keeping blogger alive? Do that, please. And I too learnt about the strike through option just day before. Disgusting I tell you.

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  11. So true...I have been thinking of switching to wordpress too...Hopefully blogger will listen and respond...

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  12. hey nancy! SO true, i had all of this in my mind fr some time now, i am an ultimately IT challenged person and all that u have mentioned is so very true.. hope someone is listening somewhere though!
    ps- i still dunno how to strike through :(

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  13. precisely the facts...i hope they get to see your post!! There are so many things to learn from friends is very true!!
    -Durga

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  14. Thank u so much Nancy for putting across thoughts of so many of us. Well done and hope it bears fruit :)

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  15. bang on, i've been contemplating a move to wordpress recently -- the reply to comment is a feature to die for! and smileys, oh smileys, i need smileys to talk! :S so really if they don't improve things around here, i might just move to wordpress if i have like 30 mins some day lol

    by the way, thanks for the mention *blushes*

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  16. Thumbs up to you, babes! (If we had emoticons, I would not have had to type the previous sentence!) Well written. I hope the right ppl read it. Though I wonder how that will happen. LOL abt the name turning yellow. :D

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  17. i so agree..also how do add a header to the blog?? anyone listening? please enlighten me!!!
    gee, me using nancy's space to get some info..

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  18. Hope your letter's taken seriously by those working at the drawing board!

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  19. Liked this :) I WILL complete the tag.

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  20. wo!! absolutely true!!
    Blogger people better READ THIS!

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  21. My thoughts exactly!!! I love fiddling around with the look of the blog but the themes here are so sad!!! I tried getting themes from elsewhere but something totally weird happened when I uploaded it (no data loss thankfully!!)

    I was seriously contemplating shifting to wordpress too....maybe I'll just open an account there for now & see if the Red Moonrise name is available (grab hold if it is!)

    Hey btw, how DO you do the strikethrough??? Kindly enlighten a clueless soul here. And also the linking in comments. And also how to put bold & italics in the comments too :D And could you also bake me a cake while you're at it :P :D

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  22. oh i agree whole heartedly!

    I would so love to be back!

    Instead of wasting time on widgets etc etc they should work on bettering their servers too.

    Remember the incidents wherein many blogs simply pulled up empty pages or when comments didnt get accepted. It has become so overloaded!

    Having said that I would love to come back anytime. I love wordpress now.. but blogger is and always will be first love!

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  23. Hey ! Superb !

    Have u sent a copy to google people also ? Let them gather up their wits and start working on blogger.

    Very valid requirements as a blogger ! Should be incorporated immediately.

    GOOGLE ! Sit up and Change for the better ! (Courtesy Nancy)

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  24. He he, this is one service that we demand to be fool proof + even demand more features, without actually paying a dime for it...

    But ya, love your confidence :)

    And hope Google give me some remuneration for spreading awareness :)

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  25. But, u know, for a moment, the title sounded like u needed some loose change!

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  26. Nancy: Good one! blogger has a lot of catching up to to, eventhough they were here first than any of those competitors.....did you try posting this letter to blogger?

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  27. BTW Nancy
    How do you do the strikethrough?

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  28. Thankyou, for speaking for most of us. Am still learning, but yes all these features would definitely help. And Yeah...enjoyed Indyeahs smileys...Thanks Once again.

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  29. :) Thank you for voicing what the rest of us have been thinking. Now what do we need to do to make sure these words are heard? Coz they are soooooo true!!!!

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  30. Thank U everybody for the comments.
    Nope, havent mailed this post to Blogger.....I'm sure they are aware of these points already.
    More than the post, I hope somebody in Blogger is reading all these comments. Almost all of them who've commented here are thinking about moving to Wordpress.

    Now I've just put up a new post to answer most of the questions asked regarding the HTML tags.
    Hope it helps;-D!!!!!!!!

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  31. arrey baba, move karo na. when i read this last time, i thought u'd move by now. abhi bhi idhar giving lessons on html codes? :p

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  32. Roop: Hey Bhagwaan, bhalaayi ka zamana hi na raha;-/!!!

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  33. Lol! LOOOOLLLL!

    Somehow I so identify with all the stuff said here. And until now, I didn't know all this was possible! :D Thank you Ms. Nancy!

    Damn, you write so well!

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  34. Lol! LOOOOLLLL!

    Somehow I so identify with all the stuff said here. And until now, I didn't know all this was possible! :D Thank you Ms. Nancy!

    Damn, you write so well!

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  35. :D :D :D

    aap hi ki bhalaai ki hi to baat kar rahe hain hum. :D :D :D

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  36. Ah blogger heard your request *dances* check my post for more information :D

    http://catawampusme.wordpress.com/2009/05/02/blogger-asks-what-you-want/

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  37. yippee!!Nancy!just read Winnie's post and its happening! yippee!!:)))
    like SOlilo asked I hope they make it so darn good that reverse migration takes place :D

    (((hugs)))
    muahh!
    what?smileys?who me?*looks innocent*

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  38. Still Thinking: Damn I always fall for ur compliments;-D!!!

    Roop: LOL....aaap hamara kitna khayaal karte hai.
    Hum prassann huye!!!!!!!!
    :-D

    Winnie: Thanks for tht info....wdn't have known otherwise;-P.

    Indyeah: Reverse migration seems highly unlikely but hopefully blogger wont lose more subscribers;-)).

    And.....yes U...
    I CROWN u Queen of Smileys;-D!!!!!!

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  39. I'm not sure what it is that I don't like about Blogger. I think it's the comment box... and the profile pages... I'm not sure.

    But I think changes are underway.

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  40. My blogger blogs feed stopped updating for some reason, I had hoped to keep both the blogs for a while... now that seems impossible. I had avoided moving for a long time but you are right, the convenience of comment responding is the biggest plus with WP... I am repeating myself, read both your posts together and mixed up everything I read :)

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  41. Hi Nancy,
    Check this out if u haven't done already.

    http://www.bloggerstyles.com
    http://www.templatelite.com/
    http://www.falconhive.com/

    I have not tried this out as yet. So cannot say for sure that the themes works with blogger or how it works. Worth a try though. Came upon these when I was blog hopping :)

    Cheers

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  42. Agnes: Oh yes it is the comment box without a doubt...it needs a lot of work;-P

    Indian Homemaker: I understand perfectly....since both the posts were related:-)).

    Anusha: Hey thanks...thts so nice of u. I've already gone thru the 3rd one & now will surely check out the others:-)).

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  43. I do hope you never move- I so enjoy coming here- and the convenience of finding you here!!

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  44. hmm ..forget about new templates ...I cud not even give a link to ur blog when u tagged me ..I struggled n so came the unlinked tag post..

    but now that awards poured(wasnt so thrilled as such coz u know sometimes the very purpose of giving awards is to get a link back..n i had reward one of them back.... :P

    I dont believe in Simple living high thinking though but yeah Simple blog,simple posts :P

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